The Ugly Duckling
by Udon
Summary: [Summaru: AU OCC] Hinata is a freak with thick rimmed glasses but she's a member of a cool group. How will our heroine transform into a princess and will any guys go after her? Please read and review... XD


**Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi…**

"Blah" = speech

//Blah// = thought

(Blah) = action

== **The Ugly Duckling** ==

[Chapter One]

Hinata was happily reading a book with her glasses when she heard a guy asking, "You know the cool group of girls called, 'Butterflies'?" 

"Yeh, I know them!" exclaimed another guy.

"Well I got some photos of them, you wanna see?"

"Sure (stares at photos) aww… hot babes except the one with the helmet hairstyle, _freak! _"

"Yeh I know, she's Hinata…"

As soon as Hinata finished listening to their conversation she walked up to them and said, "I'm not weird!" She stormed off and thought // I may be occasionally different but I'm not a freak! For God's sake, why should I care? //

Hinata walked to class after the lunch bell and was very surprised to see a hot guy next to her seat.

"Hi what's your name?" the blond boy asked.

"Hi-Hinata, are you new to this school?" she asked.

"Hi Hinata, I'm Naruto Uzamaki and yes I'm new here because my family decided to move to Konoha. Where do you live?" asked Naruto.

"I live across the road to school," she answered.

"Shit! That close, well I can come visit you! What's your mobile number?" continued Naruto.

"I don't have one, where do you live?" replied Hinata. 

"Hehe… I live near school too!" he exclaimed.

"Really? Which street?" beckoned Hinata.

"Tanaka Street," replied Naruto.

The two exchanged numbers and realised they lived on opposite ends of the same street. They chatted for a while before the teacher came in to teach his class. When the bell rang the students went off to their next class.

"Hinata want to go somewhere after school?" asked Naruto.

"Sure, but where?" she replied.

"The Otaku Shopping Complex. I want to see if I can bump into some old friends. I can introduce you to some of them," he suggested.

Hinata's thoughts // I can't believe this is true. A good-looking guy pops up and lives so close to me. He's also going to introduce me to his friends! // Because Hinata's a shy girl she had never made many male friends. Her group leader, Ino on the other hand had flirted with many guys. The pretty pink haired Sakura also attracted many guys. 

Naruto's thoughts // Oh my God! I can't believe this freak lives so close to me… She better be a member of the 'Butterflies' so I can date one of them! //

"I'll wait for you at the gates after school," said Hinata softly.

"OK," replied Naruto.

[-]

During lunchtime Naruto decided to join a group. After about twenty minutes observation he chose the cool group called, 'Fireflies'. He walked up to them and asked, "Hey you guys, mind if I join your group?"

//They must accept me! I don't want to hang out with losers! // He thought.

Sasuke smirks, "Give us ONE good reason why we should accept you?"

//Hmm… Why should they accept me? -- Dunno… // He thought.

He then answers, "Acceptance does not need reasons, you either accept me or I go find another group."

"Go find another group then, dobe!" retorts Sasuke.

"Why can't I join?" asked Naruto.

"We just don't like you," yawns Shikamaru.

"It was not intelligent of you to ask us," joined Neji.

"I don't care," said Haku.

"Fine, I'll go find myself another group!" yelled Naruto.

Naruto was walking for a few minutes before a dog came up to sniff his feet. Suddenly a bushy haired boy came up to apologise, "Sorry, my dog likes to sniff things. You must be new here, that's why he wants to smell you."

"Yea," answered Naruto and thought // Weirdo! //

"I'm Kiba, let me take you to my group of friends," introduced Kiba before grabbing Naruto's hand to the court.

"That's Rock Lee," pointed Kiba at a bushy eyebrow doing chin ups on the monkey bars. He added, "That's Choji and he's Shino" Naruto followed Kiba's pointer to a fat guy munching chips and a weirdo playing with ants. 

Naruto shifted his head down so that shadows covered his face. // What type of _loser _group is this? What the heck? Being in a group is better than to be a nigel! // He thought. 

He put on a happy face and bowed, "I'm Naruto Uzamaki, nice to meet you all!"

[-]

Ino exclaims, "We need to change our image a little or else the other groups will beat us!"

Sakura concentrated in filing her nails while Ten ten continued to gossip with Asuka. Rei tried to listen but was really day dreaming about her life. 

Hinata was quietly reading but decided to give Ino a piece of her mind, "I don't care what our group looks like. We can't compare with other people because there is bound to be prettier girls out there!"

Ino objected, "I don't care what YOU think, but our group seriously needs a change; especially YOU!!"

[-]

A patient Hinata waited for fifteen minutes near the gates to meet up with Naruto. //He better come…// she thought. 

"Hey Hinata, mind if Lee join us?" asked Naruto.

Hinata shifted her glasses to study Lee and thought // who is this thick eyebrows? Never seen him before… //

"Su-sure," stuttered Hinata.

The three chatted a bit before reaching the shopping centre. They sat down and ordered their food. Naruto explained he might be leaving soon to meet up with some friends. 

"I can't wait til my ramen comes, this restaurant makes the best ramen!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I hope my rice comes soon. I can eat bowls and bowls of it!" shouted Lee.

"…." Breathed Hinata.

When their food arrived Hinata was having a hard time eating her udon. The hot steam constantly made her glasses fog up so she couldn't see the bowl. 

"It's so sad how youths wear glasses nowadays. They either read or play too much video games. But me on the other hand loves the nature and I run and run each day. I also do a few hundred sit ups and push ups," explained Lee.

"…" Thought Naruto and Hinata.

Hinata moved her eyes away from the udon so that her glasses would clear up. She stares off to the distant before her eyes landed on a mahogany brown haired boy. She runs out of the restaurant frantically to catch up with Gaara.

"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji," she yells crazily.

She hugs the back of the figure that she thought was Shinji and asked him to **_stop_**. Gaara unclasped the arms of the person that dared to touch him. He turned around slowly before gazing angrily at his assaulter with scary red eyes.

Hinata froze at the figure before her. The pale boy looked exactly like Shinji if you took out the dark circles. But he couldn't be Shinji because he was dead. Gaara grunted and warned, "Don't you dare touch me again!"

TBC

A/N: This Fic is an AU so obviously the characters are OOC considering they don't have tragic backgrounds. If you wanted to read a fic with ninjas this one is not for you. The pairing may be Gaara X Hinata and as the title suggests; Hinata is the 'Ugly Duckling'… Please do not flame or swear in a review because that discourages me to continue, thank you! =.=


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